Milwaukee Mayor Barrett vows to aid startups in State of the City speech

In this morning's State of the City speech, Mayor Tom Barrett highlighted initiatives designed to benefit Milwaukee's small business owners and entrepreneurs.

He announced the first Mayor's Entrepreneurs Week, saying: "People interested in turning a business idea into a growing enterprise can get technical assistance, business support and solid direction for future growth."

Barrett also spotlighted a potential partnership with San Francisco-based Kiva, an online nonprofit that aims to alleviate poverty by providing crowd-funded capital for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

"I am committed to helping startups and small businesses find lending," Barrett said, "so I'm working with the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corp. to make Milwaukee a Kiva City."